TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Debbie Austin

QVC Rolls Out “Accessible and Adaptive” Lifestyle Collection

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Selma Blair in a pink suit sits on a teal velvet couch holding a cane. There is a large golden dog sitting next to her and leaning its head on her knee

Live video commerce giant QVC is expanding its commitment to adaptive clothing and accessible products and named actor, author, and disability advocate Selma Blair as its brand ambassador for accessibility.

In a statement, QVC said it was looking to grow its accessible and adaptive offering by streamlining how customers find and explore them and enhancing the accessibility of its end-to-end shopping experience.

The move will target those with disabilities, illnesses, injuries, recovering from surgery, or aging, by offering hundreds of products spanning fashion, home, electronics and beauty with a dedicated ‘Accessible and Adaptive’ category.

Our Takeaway: This means that QVC is one of the first US retailers to offer a full lifestyle of accessible products into a single multicategory medium that will be an enormous convenience for the disability community. Read More.

Travel Agent Survey: 61% Already Working with People with Disabilities

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B&W photo closely cropped of a wheelchair and steps

The world is not built for people with disabilities. As a full-time wheelchair user, Kristy Durso knows this well. What some simply see as an inconvenience — a heavy door, a tight airplane lavatory, or even the awkward placement of shower controls in a hotel bathroom — could pose a safety risk for her and other individuals with limited mobility. 

In fact, when Durso, the owner of Incredible Memories Travel, is on the road, she’s always scanning her surroundings, taking note of any obstacles that may ruin a future trip for a client with accessibility needs.

“Imagine if you got to a hotel room, and you are not able to get into the bed because it’s at chin height,” she said. “High beds are very fashionable, but a super-high bed means we can’t get in it. Or imagine that your shower had a lock on it, and the only way to get into that shower is if you call down to the staff and ask them to bring you the key. That’s the kind of thing that happens to us.”

Our Takeaway: That 61% of travel agents surveyed are already selling to clients and up to 80% want to learn more about accessibility is indicative of their client base aging into the next chapter of their lives in which disability, or caring for a spouse with a disability, is becoming a reality. Read More.

Update: EMS 2023, Savannah, August 18th-20th

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some of the attendees at 2022 EMS in Orlando- Kristy Durso, Chelsea Bear, Alvaro Silberstein, Jake Steinman, Arica Sears, Camilo Navarro, Arica Sears, Makiko Matsuda-Healy, Be Alink plus more
Attendees at EMS 2022

Thirty Speakers have already been confirmed for TravelAbility Summit in Savannah!

recently added SESSIONS include:

Breaking Down Accessible Barriers with AI and ChatGPT. “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” –Albert Einstein.  ChatGPT can be used to make your organization more accessible-friendly by improving website content, uncovering unknown accessibility features, helping to develop a search strategy and completing specific boilerplate sections of grant applications.

The Four Pillars of Developing any Accessibility Strategic Plan. Instead of an ad hoc approach to becoming an accessible destination, we’ve assigned a former destination strategist. This strategist spent nine years with the acclaimed Coraggio Group and now heads his own practice, developing key guiding principles for developing strategic plans around accessibility.

Confessions of an Early Adopter. Diving into accessibility head first, Visit Mesa, was the world’s first autism-certified destination, the first to deploy Aira’s on-demand visual interpreters for blind visitors and residents, the first to use Wheel the World for accessibility hotel assessments, the first DMO to join Travelability’s Destination Ally Club, the first to add an “A” to their DE&I initiative (which is now, DEI and A,) and the first to collaborate on a craft beer with one of their breweries to raise awareness and funds for their foundation. What can we learn from them?

Confessions of a Late Bloomer. Two organizations that have recently embraced inclusivity as one of their core values discuss the external and internal factors that brought them to their decision and how they plan to execute it.

Presenters:
Patrick Lennon, Director of Marketing, Visit Fairfax;
Arin Arnold-Davis, Administrative Project Manager, Visit Lexington.

Can the impact of DEI & Accessibility Be Measured? Tourism for All, a pilot project between Visit Charlottesville, Destinations International and TripAdvisor was designed to assess the impact that three years of outreach, stakeholder and visitor education had on TripAdvisor comments and reviews. Mallory Smith, Sr. Digital Marketing, TripAdvisor, Courtney Cacatian, CEO, Visit Charlottesville, and Sophia Hyder Hoch, Chief Diversity Officer, Destinations International.

How Destination Sustainability Can Power Tourism and Win Over Locals. Many believe sustainability is all about protecting natural resources, but the benefits of creating a sustainable destination can be far bigger. Find out how three beloved destinations used destination stewardship to tackle top local priorities like housing and traffic congestion while serving visitors and building awareness of the power of tourism.

Presenters:
Cathy Ritter, Founder, Better Destinations;
Mia Vlaar, Economic Development Director, Vail, CO;
Andy Chapman, President & CEO, Travel North Tahoe Nevada; and
Brett Stawar, President & CEO, Port Aransas (TX) Tourism Bureau.

Making Meetings More Welcoming and Inclusive for People with Disabilities. What meeting planners are looking for from hotels and destinations in their RFP’s. Is accessibility or sustainability a differentiator when making selections?

New Members of TravelAbilty’s Destination A11Y Club.  We’d like to welcome Destination British Columbia and Discover the Palm Beaches as the newest members bringing total membership to 14.

See the full agenda here.

New on TravelAbility.net

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InnovateABLE:  We carefully curated selection of technology, innovations and services that can reduce barriers for people with disabilities, several of which will be part of our annual pitchfest on July 26th. https://travelability.net/summit/innovateable/

Airport Accessibility page with links in all 50 states.

New Members of Our Advisory Board:

David O’Hara, Director of Accessibility, American Express Global Business Travel 

Houston Vandergrift, Founder, Downs and Towns.

Alan Fyall, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

Lorraine Woodward, Founder, Becoming Rentable

Six of the most prominent Disability Holidays in 2023.

We welcome Lansing Michigan as the newest member of our “Destination A11Y Club.”

Kudos to Visit Tampa Bay for creating the Accessible Riverwalk Pass, the first discount pass designed specifically for visitors and local residents with a disability.

NFL Backs Wheelchair Football League Super Bowl

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Before fans flocked to Phoenix for the Super Bowl, the city hosted another major football championship event featuring a different group of hard-hitting players.

The Wheelchair Football League held its second Super Bowl on Tuesday with a match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Rams. The league, which was created by the NFL, the Bob Woodruff Foundation and Move United, is made up of athletes with disabilities who compete in wheelchairs, complete with uniforms and helmets of NFL teams. Read More.

Our Takeaway: The NFL has endured years of negative coverage about the perfunctory way they addressed the issue of player concussion injuries. Accessibility initiatives such as this and the half-time ASL halftime show interpretation of Rihanna’s dance (see “A Star is Born” story in this issue) demonstrates the way accessibility can be a boost to an organization’s reputation.